WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — DC go-go music pioneer Rory “DC” Felton was killed in Southwest Washington, DC on Friday, and detectives are searching for the person who stabbed him.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God” were the only words Penny Felton could say when she got the news that her husband of 36 years was stabbed several times inside of a home on Forrester Street in SW DC.
“Me knowing the type of person he was and how happy he was and how much he liked living, it just weighed me down,” Felton said. “I really was numb.”
DC Felton was the guy everyone seemed to know.
He was one of the original members of longtime DC go-go band Rare Essence and later played with Benny and the Masters.
If he was not rocking his saxophone, he was catching every beat on the cowbell or busting a dance move.
“He loved go-go. He loved anything R&B that had a go-go beat to it,” Lakeisha Duhart told WUSA9.
DC, who was a father and grandfather, was also known for having an unique style.
“He wore the most weirdest hats. That was his hobby,” Felton laughed. “Everywhere you saw him he had on a crazy hat.”
DC’s death was not the first time he came face to face with violence.
The saxophonist was shot in the head with a stray bullet 26 years ago in 1992.
“He was in a coma,” Felton recalled. “He wasn’t supposed to make it, and they wanted to pull the plug.”
Felton said her husband woke up more than one month after he went into that coma.
“The Lord favored him at that point because his will was to live and the Lord blessed him with that,” she said.
DC’s family said he was a man who beat the odds and continued touching countless lives with his music, personality, and heart.
“I hope they find the person, and I hope they let justice be done,” Felton told WUSA9. “I think every human being on earth deserves that.”
DC Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information in the case.
If you know anything, give them a call at 202-727-9099.
Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411.
